Pregame blog: Duke

Safety Rhyan “Nitro” England was one of 14 seniors honored in a pregame ceremony before kickoff.

England was originally offered by Georgia Southern by Jeff Monken. Georgia Southern didn’t express interest in England when Monken left for the Army job in December 2013. Monken offered England a chance to play for the Black Knights.

“If you see him as a high school kid, you are like, ‘You know he’s not really big and there’s others guy that look better physically,’” Monken said. “But, there was something about him and if you didn’t know him you probably wouldn’t have taken him. With that said, he was the defensive player of the year in Gwinnett County, which is arguably one of the best high school football counties.”

England will start his 34th game for Black Knights, who look to close its home schedule with an undefeated 6-0 season.

“I think it’s a special day for our class,” England said. “All of us are really close and all of us are truly brothers. It’s great to play our last game at Michie together. It will be a special day and at the same time we have a chance to accomplish one of our goals. It’s something that we really value as a team is to defend our home turf. It’s huge for us.”

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Sal Interdonato

Award-winning writer Sal Interdonato has been on the Army football beat since 2007. He'll take you inside the huddle and into the lives of the Black Knights. Read Full